Sometimes, a filmmaker can get a little crazy. Gore Verbinski,
the man who brought us “popcorn fare” like original Pirates of the
Caribbean franchise, Rango and The Lone Ranger has suddenly
decided to explore the darker realms with this weekend’s release of A Cure
for Wellness, the story of an apparently sinister plot inside a Swiss
Health spa.

Dan DeHaan stars as Lockhart, a young ambitious executive
who is assigned to investigate why their CEO Pembroke (Harry Groener) has
disavowed his business responsibilities in order to live out the rest of his
life inside a spa located in the Swiss Alps. Lockhart arrives to discover
mysterious circumstances, including a sequestered Pembroke, several quirky
(elderly) patrons, and a robot-like staff, headed by the enigmatic Dr. Heinrich
Volmer (Jason Isaacs). He also discovers Hannah (Mia Goth), the facility’s lone
teenage patron who receives constant and specialized individual care from
Volmer. When he in unsuccessful in getting Pembroke to leave, Lockhart decides
to leave and stay in the nearby village for a night, but his limousine hits a
deer and he is returned to the spa where he receives urgent care from Volmer
and his staff. Whe he awakens days later, his entire leg is in a plaster cast,
and he begins to receive some of Volmer’s “special” spa treatments. As his stay
at the spa continues, Lockhart grows closer to Hannah, who seems to want to
leave but is unable, due to constant oversight from Volmer. Lockhart also
discovers something sinister behind Volmer’s treatments, including the use of
deadly eels and disappearances of some of the elderly clientele. Lockhart
eventually discovers the truth behind Volmer, his connection to Hannah and a
dark secret from the distant past.

A Cure for Wellness is a strange and overindulgent film.
Verbinsky, who also co-wrote the screenplay, showed little to no restraint
regarding some very dark and disturbing elements of the story, which includes
scenes depicting torture, mutilation, child rape and other troubling
representations. From the beginning, the story resembles Martin Scorsese’s Shutter
Island, leading audiences to assume there’s an “alternate reality” at play,
but in the end, it turns out that the weird, creepy and inappropriate stuff are
to be taken literally.

After setting up the story as a “psychological thriller,” the
climactic ending of A Cure for Wellness also devolves into your garden
variety horror/monster film, complete with excessive makeup and special
effects. The bait-and-switch doesn’t do the movie any service, and most
audiences will not be impressed with a “surprise” ending that is less-than
surprising, and isn’t very appealing, either.